Miura 5

Artist's impression of the Mirua 5 rocket at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

In October 2023 PLD Space inaugurated the suborbital launch vehicle Miura1 from the El Arenosillo Test Centre in Spain. The rocket is designed to send up to 100 kg up to heights of 150 km above Earth, offering short periods of weightlessness for researchers and other customers.

Miura 5 is the next step in PLD Space launch services portfolio targeting customers who want to launch small satellites into orbit. Set to launch up to 540 kg of hardware to a sun-synchronous orbit, Miura 5 is bigger in every way to Miura 1. The future rocket will be 2 m in diameter and have two stages to propel payloads to orbit – the first stage will eventually be recuperated with parachutes for reuse on later flights.

A contract signed by ESA and PLD Space co-funding to the value of €1.3 million supports the Miura 5 launch service development by co-funding to develop a modular, customisable, payload accommodation system. Designed to release all types of satellites with as much flexibility as possible, the payload system – called MOSPA for Modular Solution for Payload Adapter – will allow PLD Space to offer its customers a wider range of missions and services, including accommodation of CubeSats, nanosatellites and microsatellites. The development of the modular payload adapter will be done in partnership with OCCAM Space.

Miura 5 will be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.